Clothesline fastening device



June 6, 1939. E P ASHCRQFT 2,161,499

CLOTHESLINE FASTENING DEVICE Filed June 3, 1958 ETHEL P. ASHCROFT INVENTOR ATTO R N EYS Patented June 6, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CLOTHESLINE FASTENIN G DEVICE Colo.

Application June 3, 1938, Serial No. 211,646

1 Claim. (C1. 24--137) My invention relates to fastening devices and more particularly to clothes line fastening devices.

One of the principal objects of my invention is to provide a clothes line fastening device that is simple in construction, efficient in operation, reliable in use and economical in manufacture.

Another object of my invention is to provide a device of the above described character equipped with means for facilitating the attachl ment thereof to articles 'suspended from a clothes line whereby said articles are reliably secured to said line.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description, appended claim and annexed drawing.

Referring to the drawing wherein like reference characters designate' like parts throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of my invention having a section thereof broken away to show the article engaging face of the ball or sphericallike member.

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof illustrating the same clamped to an article suspended from a clothes line.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 illustrating the position of the parts when about to be moved to article clamping position.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 1.

In practicing my invention there is illustrated a clothes line 5 having suspended therefrom the folded sides of an article 6, for instance clothing or the like. Securing said article to said line is my novel form of fastening device 1 comprising a length of wire coiled between the ends thereof as at 8 to form a pair of resilient arms v9 and I0. The free end of the arm 9 is fashioned with a resilient looped section II secured within a circumferentially extending groove I2 of a ball or spherical-like member I 3. The arm I is fashioned between the ends thereof with a flattened section I4 of arcuate configuration in side elevation and at the free end thereof with a finger loop I5.

The member I3 is formed with a segmented article engaging face I6 adjacent the section I4 of the arm I0 and said face is of a like contour as the' inner opposed face of the section I4 whereby, when the face I6 and the section I4 engage the folded sides of an article suspended from the line 5, said article will be clamped between said face I6 and said section I4 in appressed condition over said face as clearly illustrated in Figure 2 of the drawing.

When it is desired to secure the article 6 to the line 5, the ball-like member I3 is positioned above the line in a, manner whereby the line and article engage within the crotch between the member I3 and section I4 as clearly illustrated in Figure 3.

In this position, pull is exerted through the medium of the nger loop I5 and the fastening device drawn downwardly about the sides of the article. As the fastening device is drawn downwardly, the resiliency of the arms 9 and IU permit the arm to spread and dispose the line 5 in a plane above the axis of the member I3 as clearly illustrated in Figure 2. The curved face of the member I3 coacts with the line and artible to effect the spreading of the arms 9 and IIl. In this position the device is securely clamped to the article and line.

What I claim is:

In a fastening device, a length of Wire coiled between the ends thereof to form a pair of resilient arms, one of said arms formed with a flattened section between the ends thereof and terminating in a finger-piece at the free end thereof, the other of said arms fashioned with a resilient loop at the free end thereof, a balllike member fashioned with a circumferentially extending recess receiving said loop and provided with a segmented face having a contour corresponding to the contour of said flattened section and cooperating with said flattened section to clamp therebetween the folded sides of an article interposed between said arms and suspended from a line extending between said arms.

ETHEL P. ASI-ICROFT. 

